


Epilogue

by nachocheese26



Category: Humans (TV)
Genre: F/M, Handmaidens Tale-ish AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-14
Updated: 2017-07-14
Packaged: 2018-12-02 03:20:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11500713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nachocheese26/pseuds/nachocheese26
Summary: The rebellion was over, but London could never be the same. They were all different now. But maybe there's a chance for hope?Epilogue for turnedherbrain's story How the Rebellion Started.





	Epilogue

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [How The Rebellion Started](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11452161) by [turnedherbrain](https://archiveofourown.org/users/turnedherbrain/pseuds/turnedherbrain). 



Mattie looked up at the sky. It was clear and the sun was shining. A rare thing for London this time of the year. She squinted and smiled up at the sun. Seven years ago she wouldn’t have been able to do this, indoctrinated to walk with her head down, always meek, never enjoying the simple pleasures of life.

She focused again on the path ahead of her. Sophie wanted cookies and Mattie wasn’t going to deny her sister anything. Especially after finally finding her just three days ago.

Mattie looked down at their entwined hands and smiled. Sophie was nearly eighteen, but she still insisted on holding Mattie’s hand. Mattie was okay with it. More so since it helped her not think about the rest of their family and the fact that they still hadn’t heard anything.

Five years into her work with the rebellion and Mattie had been caught. Captured and tortured and she kept those memories locked in the dark parts of her mind. Her night terrors had stopped only a few months ago, she didn’t need another relapse.

Time was a lost concept before she had been captured, even more so after she was rescued. 

And Mattie couldn’t hide her surprise when she saw the green eyes of a synth opening her cell door and yelling that if she didn’t move, they would both be strung up on the wall.

“Can I have two cookies, Mats?”

Mattie looked at Sophie with her polite question. Mattie knew Sophie never made it out of the country and Sophie hadn’t shared what happened. 

Mattie felt bile in the back of her throat though as she thought of what could have made that bubbly little girl into such a subdued young woman. “You can have as many as your stomach can handle.”

Sophie had settled on two dozen and Mattie just one. She went up to the cash register and pulled out her money while the man priced everything. Mattie noted that his name tag said ‘Max.’

The man looked up and Mattie smiled at seeing it was a synth. Slowly, London was returning back to a sense of normalcy.

His polite smile quickly turned into a wide grin. “Mattie?”

Mattie’s heart picked up speed. Her distrust quickly growing, even though he was a synth. “Yeah…do I know you?”

“No, but I-I-I-I-I. Memory malfunction. Force shut down.” Max powered down on his own, his head dropping and five seconds later, he powered back on his own. He blinked a few times before give Mattie a sad smile. “Sorry. They did something to my memory storage. My brother Leo is working on trying to fix it.”

Mattie’s felt something jump in her throat. She immediately thought of Leo, the dishwasher boy, the one they had taken…but it couldn’t be him. There were other Leo’s and if you were a man taken by the police, you were never heard from again.

Mattie handed him the money and they were on their way again back to their temporary home. 

Everything felt brand new. People were walking around as if they were seeing the world for the first time. For many, it was the first time in a long time. Mattie remembered looking around exactly like that just last week. They finally told her it was safe for her to return to London. 

It had been Niska, the same synth that had rescued her two years ago, that had escorted Mattie to the train station carrying other returning refugees. Niska had become a dear friend during those two years. Mattie asked her to come back to London with her, but Niska refused. She still had family that had fled that she was looking for.

The TV was on at their flat. A new list of names scrolling of people that had been found. Next to their names was either alive or deceased. Mattie inhaled sharply when she saw ‘Laura Hawkins – Deceased’

She didn’t know what she had been expecting. She looked over at Sophie eating her cookies in the kitchen, her foot swinging and unaware of Mattie had just found out. Mattie would let her enjoy her cookies first.

It took Sophie four days to finish all those cookies and Mattie held her as Sophie sobbed after hearing the fate of their mother. It was the first real sign of emotion she had showed and Mattie knew her sister wasn’t too far gone.

Within those four days, they had found Toby. And just like Sophie, he had grown up too and was completely different than the way Mattie remembered him. 

He had almost survived this entire nightmare unscathed. But five months before the liberation, they found out about his relationship with a former synthie. And by that point, they had no mercy for those who claimed they weren’t synthie’s anymore.

Mattie was too afraid to ask what happened to his girlfriend. Instead, she suggested they go get more cookies. Sophie held her hand again and Toby walked right beside Mattie, occasionally brushing his arm against hers, as if reminding himself that this was real.

Sophie picked two dozen cookies again and Toby added a dozen of his own. Mattie grabbed just two and smiled when she saw Max manning the cash register again.

They had polite small talk and just before Mattie grabbed the bag to leave, he pulled out a separate bag of cookies.

“Here. This batch was made just for you.”

Mattie wanted to ask why, but was afraid she might trigger another memory overload for him. 

So instead, she thanked him and walked with her siblings back home.

Toby and Sophie settled in the living room, putting on a movie to avoid the constant news on cable. 

Mattie took her bag of cookies into her room and slowly ate each one, remembering what happened the last time she had been given cookies like this.

But that was a long time ago and things like that didn’t happen twice. That’s why when she bit into something hard, she thought she was imagining it. But she pulled the cookie back and saw a small note, folded up in the size of a fingernail.

With shaking hands, she pulled it out and unfolded it.

I’m here. I’m safe. I’m alive. 

Mattie thought she might throw up with the surplus of emotions as she read those words scrawled in that familiar handwriting. She jumped up and flew out of the flat, throwing some kind of explanation to Toby and Sophie.

Mattie couldn’t remember the last time she had run this fast. But when she came back to the small shop, they had just closed. Mattie banged on the door, begging someone to open it and ignoring the odd looks she was getting from others outside.

But then she heard a back door opening from the alley. She hurried towards it and froze.

Same messy hair and scruff. Same uneven gait, if anything more pronounced. She watched as he threw a few bags of trash into the dumpster and willed her mouth to speak.

She didn’t have to though. He turned around and saw her.

Mattie wasn’t sure who moved first, but next thing she knew, they were on the ground, arms wrapped tightly around each other and both looking for any sign that they were physically damaged even though the emotional damage was evident in their eyes.

Mattie pressed her forehead against his, her mind swirling with all the things she wanted to say until finally her brain decided to pick one.

“I love you too, Leo.”


End file.
